 Walking football game | |
| Highest governing body | The Walking Football Association |
|---|---|
| First played | 2011 |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | No |
| Mixed-sex | No |
| Type | Indoor or outdoor |
Walking football is a variant of association football invented in 2011 and is played by thousands of teams all over the UK.
It is aimed at keeping people aged over 50 involved with football if, due to a lack of mobility or for other reasons, they are not able to play the traditional game. [1] The sport can be played both indoors and outdoors. [2] Coverage of a walking football session initially believed to be an April Fools' joke, on Sky Sports News and in a documentary aired on Sky Sports Football in October 2017, led to several other clubs taking up this version of the game. [3] [4] It has since become a craze. [5] [6]
There are now thousands of teams and sessions all over the UK with players now featuring in over-50s, over 60s, over-65s, over-70s, and over-75s teams. The sport has also proved popular with women over 40.
Though based on association football (albeit with more than 50 differences), the key difference from standard football is that if a player runs then they concede a free kick to the other side. [7] [8] This restriction, together with a ban on slide tackles, is aimed both at avoiding injuries and facilitating the playing of the sport by those who are physically disadvantaged. [9] [8] The manner in which the sport is played promotes cardiovascular fitness whilst reducing stress on the body. [10] It also helps participants maintain an active lifestyle. [11]
In walking football the game was originally played without goalkeepers (though goalkeepers now play in some variations) and, crucially, the ball must never be kicked above head height. [12] Different footballs are used in the indoor and the outdoor variations of the sport. When played indoors, a size 4 futsal ball is used. Outdoor games involve a traditional football. The size of the pitch can vary to suit different locations. The length should be from 20 to 40 yards and the width between 15 and 30 yards. [13]
The sport was created in 2011 by John Croot, [14] but came to wider public attention in July 2014, when Barclays Bank aired a television advertisement featuring walking football to promote its services. [15]
Similar slower-paced sports include walking netball, [16] walking rugby, [17] walking basketball, [18] walking hockey (based on field hockey) [19] and walking cricket. [19]
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.
Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own goal ring. It is one of a few sports created exclusively for women and girls and remains primarily played by them, on indoor and outdoor courts, especially in schools and most popularly in the Commonwealth of Nations.
In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is placed at or near each end of the playing field for each team to defend. Sports which feature goal scoring are also commonly known as invasion games.
Sport is an important part of Australian culture and dates back to the early colonial period. The first of the country's mainstream sports to become established in order of their organisation were cricket, Australian rules football, rugby union, tennis, soccer, basketball, netball and rugby league. According to Ausplay, in 2024 the most practiced physical activities for Australians were walking including bushwalking, fitness, running cycling, pilates and yoga each practised by more than a million adults. The most played team sports in order of participation are soccer, basketball, Australian rules football, cricket and netball each played by more as many as half a million adults. Soccer and basketball, in particular have more than a million adult players are also the most popular team activities for children. Tennis and golf are the most popular individual sports among Australians with more than a million players each. Sport has shaped the Australian national identity through events such as the Melbourne Cup and the America's Cup.
In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the early days of football, the concept of each team wearing a set of matching shirts had not been universally adopted, so each side would distinguish itself from the other by wearing a specific sort of cap.
The state of Victoria, Australia, has a strong sporting culture and includes many popular sports.
Team Durham is a student-run organisation responsible for sport at Durham University. Durham University's sports programme, run by Team Durham, has produced more professional sports people than any other UK university and has twice seen Durham named Times and Sunday Times Sports University of the Year. It has ranked in the top three institutions in British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) every season since 2011–12. Eight Team Durham alumni or current athletes have won nine Olympic and Paralympic medals since 1996.
Sport in New South Wales describes participation in and attendance at organised sports events in the state of New South Wales in Australia. Sport forms an integral part of the culture of the state.
Mitre Sports International Ltd., mostly known as Mitre, is an English sports equipment manufacturer based in Wakefield. Mitre is mainly focused on association football but also providing equipment for other sports. Having founded in 1817 in Huddersfield, the company is one of the oldest of its type in the world. Mitre is currently a subsidiary of the British family–owned Pentland Group.
Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in the state of South Australia.
Netball is the most popular women's sport in New Zealand, in terms of player participation and public interest. With the national team, the Silver Ferns, currently ranked second in the world, netball maintains a high profile in New Zealand. As in other netball-playing countries, netball is considered primarily a women's sport; men's and mixed teams exist at different levels, but are ancillary to women's competition.
Sport in Cardiff is dictated by, amongst other things, its position as the capital city of Wales, meaning that national home sporting fixtures are nearly always played in the city. All of Wales' multi-sports agencies and many of the country's sports governing bodies have their headquarters in Cardiff and the city's many top-quality venues have attracted world-famous sport events, sometimes unrelated to Cardiff or to Wales.
The history of netball can be traced to the early development of basketball. A year after basketball was invented in 1891, the sport was modified for women to accommodate social conventions regarding their participation in sport, giving rise to women's basketball. Variations of women's basketball arose across the United States and in England. At the Madame Österberg Physical Training College Dartford, England, the rules of women's basketball were modified over several years to form an entirely new sport: "net ball". The sport was invented to encourage young females to be physically active and energetic. The first codified rules of netball were published at the start of the twentieth century, and from there the new sport spread throughout the British Empire.
Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky.
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football ; Australian rules football; Gaelic football; gridiron football ; International rules football; rugby league football; and rugby union football. These various forms of football share, to varying degrees, common origins and are known as "football codes".
Sport in Sri Lanka is a significant part of Sri Lankan culture. Although the Sports Ministry named volleyball the national sport, the most popular sport is Cricket. Rugby union is also popular. Other popular sports are water sports, badminton, athletics, football, basketball and tennis. Sri Lanka's schools and colleges regularly organize sports and athletics teams, competing on provincial and national levels.
England Netball, formerly the "All England Netball Association", is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in England.
Women's sport in Australia started in the colonial era. Sport made its way into the school curriculum for girls by the 1890s. World War II had little impact on women's sport in the country. After the war, women's sport diversified as a result of new immigrants to the country. In the 1990s, the percentage of media coverage for women's sport on radio, television and in newspapers was not at parity with male sport. Basketball is nominally professional in Australia but players do not earn enough from the sport to compete full-time. Some Australians have gone overseas to play professional sport. Many television spectators for Australian sport are women. In person, netball has large percentage of female spectators. The Australian Federal and State governments have encouraged women to participate in all areas of sport.
Jack Butland is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Rangers.
Walking netball is a version of netball adapted to be a slower game and thus more inclusive, allowing older or less fit people to continue playing, return to playing, or take up netball for the first time. The main differences in the rules are that running and jumping are not allowed, that an extra step may be taken with the ball, and that the ball may be held for 4 seconds instead of 3 seconds. A walking netball programme was first developed in England in 2017, as a collaboration between England Netball and the charity Age UK. It is played in countries including England, Australia and New Zealand.
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